How the other half live

In terms of doing things in style, the Sultan of Brunei has a fleet of VIP aircraft, including two Gulfstream V, a Gulfstream IV, an Extended Range Boeing 767-200 and a Boeing 747-400. The enormously wealthy Sultan bought the 747 for around $100 million, and then spent another $120 million having it decorated with solid gold and crystal.

The Gulfstream G550 is the executive jet of choice for Turkey, Kuwait and Tanzania, among others. The Greek Air Force operates two Gulfstream G500s – equipped with anti-missile systems – for transporting government officials and VIPs.

Perhaps the world’s most famous official plane – Air Force One – is in fact whichever one of two highly customised Boeing 747-200B aircraft that happens to be carrying the President of the United States, and therefore uses the official air traffic control call sign.

In 2006, Britain announced plans to buy a Boeing 737 and a smaller executive jet to fly the Prime Minister and the Royal Family around the world – which the press immediately dubbed “Blair Force One” – at a cost to the taxpayer of around £100 million. The plan was scrapped in March 2008 by then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the existing chartered and scheduled arrangements continued.

Last year, French Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy decided to spend €176 million on buying and converting a used Airbus A330-200 into an ultra-modern presidential airliner that will be at least ten metres longer and two metres higher that the aircraft used by other European leaders – although not quite as big as Obama’s Boeing 747-200.

In keeping with the down-to-earth Scandinavian approach, the King and Prime Minister of Norway mostly travel on commercial flights, with VIPs travelling as normal passengers. However, the Norwegian government will charter small private jets for government ministers when needed.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.